


Overdressing for the wrong occasion

by girlwithabird42



Series: Once more for the ages [14]
Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Halloween Costumes, Movie Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 10:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19316725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlwithabird42/pseuds/girlwithabird42
Summary: Nate's never been one for Halloween, but Elena's enthusiasm more than makes up for it.





	Overdressing for the wrong occasion

They aren’t far into the twenty-first century movie primer of Sam Drake when Elena brings up the completely obvious.  “ _Pirates of the Caribbean_.”

Nate makes slight grunt of dislike.

Curled under his arm, Elena cranes her neck up at her husband, furrowing her brow.  “What?  It’s _fun_.”

“It’s alright,” Nate concedes.

“A pirate movie?  Did the world collectively forget about _Cutthroat Island_?” Sam butts in.

“Did they ever!  Don’t listen to him,” Elena waves Nate off, about to protest some more.  She hops up from the couch, “I’ll make more popcorn.”

“More beer too!” Nate says in his pretty-please voice; Elena pulls three bottles from the fridge.

Back in her comfortable ball on couch, the music on the DVD menu sends a tiny chill up her spine.  It’s silly; she’s breathed in true pirate history, but she’s back in the movie theater with her college friends having one hell of a time.

Although living on the boat does make her appreciate Nate’s sailing grousing now.  She admits to nothing out loud.

“Give it a rest, Nathan,” Sam sighs.  He’s clearly more absorbed in the film than he’d like to let on.  Elena gives herself a mental pat on the back for her intuition.

Elizabeth Swann strides across the deck with confidence, coat and breeches infinitely more practical than the silk gowns.

“Kiera Knightley’s so pretty,” Elena murmurs to no one in particular.

“You’re prettier.”  The way Nate says it, it’s a simple fact to him, the undeniable truth.

Elena presses herself closer to him, placing a faint kiss on his cheek before resting her head on his chest.  She’s only half paying attention to the movie, still lost in the moment when Nate speaks up again.

“Come on, this is where you’re supposed to tell me I’m prettier than Orlando Bloom,” he teases.

Elena feigns a thinking hard face, “No comment.”

“If you two are going to be like this, I’m leaving,” Sam protests, attempting to extract himself from the cushions.

“Sorry,” Nate chuckles; their focus returns to the film.

The theme music blasts over the end credits; Sam starts to stretch his legs.  “That wasn’t too bad.  Kind of dumb but in a fun way.”

“You’re buttering Elena up,” Nate calls him out.

“Yep, absolutely.”

“Boys, play nice,” Elena laughs.  The idea strikes her, “We should really watch two and three, make this a proper marathon night.”

Nate jumps up from the couch to start cleaning, keeping mum on the idea.

“There are three?” Sam says a little incredulously.

“ _Five_.  Those other two don’t count, they suuuck.  They don’t do anything with Elizabeth and Will’s story.”

“The story’s over.  Guy got the girl, the end.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Elena grins.

“If we’re watching more of these, I need to get good and properly drunk,” Nate says from the kitchenette.

“That bad, huh?”

Nate gives Sam a look.

“I’m perfectly willing to admit they aren’t as good as the first,” Elena concedes.  “But they have more to offer than you give them credit for.”

Nate sighs, slumping his shoulders, defeated.  “Fine, but I’m making egg rolls,” he pulls the box from the freezer.

“And more beer, please,” Elena bats her eyelashes.

Nate complains through the entirety of the island escape and by the time the three-part duel starts, both he and Sam are more than drunk enough to yell ‘why?!’ over and over at the TV.  Elena even joins in.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” Sam wheezes when the fight ends.  “Besides, I gotta talk to a girl about a dog.”

“We can pause if you need to take a call,” Elena offers.

“There’s no girl.  He wanted a cigarette,” Nate mutters.

“No kidding,” Elena stands, wobbly.

But the muted sound of half a conversation drifts in as Elena attempts to clean up again.  The bad thing about living on a boat is it gets messy really fast.  But then it cleans up as quickly too.

Nate collects the defeated beer bottles, when Elena leans against the counter, “We can leave it there for the night if you want.”

Nate lets out an exhale, walking over to her and placing a kiss on her forehead.  “You’re a saint, Elena Fisher.”

“Hmm,” Elena hums, not displeased with the comparison.  “But we better wait until Sam gets back in.”

“He knows how to swim if he goes overboard,” Nate waves a dismissive hand.

“He’s drunk enough to fail a BAC several times over,” Elena crosses her arms.

“Fair enough.”

Sam eventually stumbles back in, falling face first into the couch.  They all wake up with hangovers and that’s as far as Sam gets with the _Pirates_ franchise.

\----------

The evite has dancing skeletons and pumpkins, playing a silly rendition of “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”  It’s silly, but it makes Elena smile.

She would forward it to Nate, but it’s faster to walk across the office and tell him.

“Clara?”

“Friend from college.”

“She wasn’t at the wedding.”  The look on Nate’s face says he doesn’t remember, but is hedging his bets on the fifty-fifty chance he’s right.

“No.  We weren’t that close, but she’s moved to the area and it’d be nice to see her again.”

“Liz and Jane gonna be there?”

“They’re not and even if they were, it wouldn’t be the time or place to update them on baby stuff.”

Nate wrinkles his nose a little, “We’re wearing costumes, aren’t we?”

Elena grins, “What kind of Halloween would it be if we didn’t?”

“Uh, a normal one?” Nate shrugs.

It’s fair.  Married six years and not once have they gotten dressed up for the occasion.

She pats his shoulder, “Don’t worry, I’ll think up something for both of us.”

Except Elena’s got nothing.  She sneaks lurking on Pinterest in between emails and phone calls, but none of the couples’ costumes feel particularly _them_.  It isn’t until they get home and she spots the DVD box that it comes to her.

“It’d be so much fun,” she insists.  “We’ll be better-looking, if older, Will and Elizabeth.  We already live on a boat.”

Nate grins, snaking his arms around her waist, “So I _am_ prettier than Orlando Bloom?”

Elena stands on her toes to kiss him.  “Prettier and buffer.”

“You’ll make a pretty hot Pirate King,” he points out.

“You asshole, you’ve paid attention to the other movies?” she shoves him, but unable to suppress her grin.

“Gotta know what I’m complaining about or you’ll outsmart me.”

Elena shakes her head.  “As much as I’m into the idea, I was thinking more the first movie.  A swirly dress for me and a big hat for you.”

Nate snorts.

“What? The hat a bit much for you?”

“I’m secure enough to pull off the hat,” Nate protests.  “Damsel in distress Kiera isn’t very you, though.”

He’s doing that thing again, being completely open with how he sees her and Elena isn’t too proud it makes her a bit weak in the knees.

“I appreciate it, Nate.  But I want a dress that gives me cleavage for once in my life.”

“I’m not going to say no to that,” he grins wickedly.

Every spare moment Elena has over the next few weeks is spent cursing needles and unhelpful sewing tutorials while Nate pours over research for other future digs.

_His_ costume comes together annoyingly fast.  He already has halfway decent boots, he bullshits a cape, and after not locating his eighteenth-century rapier in storage, ‘borrows’ one from Sully’s house.

“There’s a million Halloween stores, Elena.  Just buy something.”

“They’re way too expensive and terrible for the environment.  Halloween costumes are supposed to be homemade.”

Nate doesn’t belabor the point further.

The finished dress isn’t nearly as nice as Elizabeth’s, but the stays do their work, so Elena’s pleased with her handiwork.  Other partygoers respond to Nate’s costume more, either compliments on the hat or wary glances at the sword.

“What a good couples’ costume,” Clara praises them both.  “But you know what you _really_ should have done?  Indiana Jones and Marion.”

Nate opens his mouth before Elena can stop him, “Oh come on.”

Poor, well-meaning Clara, looks lost.  “But that’s what you do in real life, right?”

“Tell me about your new job,” Elena cuts the conversation short, pulling Clara back to the food spread on the table.

Nate apologizes once they’re home.  “She was probably the fourth person with that suggestion and I just –”

“It would have been a tacit endorsement of a movie series you have beef with?” Elena finishes his thought.

Truthfully, Elena thinks Nate’s a little professionally jealous of Indy, a completely fictional man.  She will not admit this to his face.

“Yeah.”  He sighs, “This was fun though, thanks.”

“Really thank me and help me get out of these stays.”

With a dramatic bow and hat flourish, Nate takes up Elena’s hand and kisses it before tackling her to the bed.

“Sword!  Sword!” Elena yelps, giggling so hard she can’t catch her breath.

Nate’s belt and sword bang hard against the wall and it’s only moments before Elena can laugh again.

\----------

Between moving into a house, wrapping production on _D &F Fortunes_ for the year, and the alarm buzzing on Elena’s phone, Nate thinks there’s no time these days.

“I can’t believe you’re letting a phone tell us when to have sex,” Nate points out, stirring spaghetti sauce.

Elena looks up from the mountain of paperwork they have to work through.  “It’s an app and it helps.  Besides, we’re not _only_ having sex when it says I’m ready.”

“Uh, just about,” Nate points out, dishing out the pasta and liberally dumping cheese on it.  Yes, there’ve already been to doctors’ appointments with a million warnings, but he remembers older women dropping off babies at the orphanage just as well as teens.

Elena wrinkles her nose.  “We can forgo unpacking some boxes once I find my camera equipment.  I’m fine with living in chaos in favor of more action.”

Nate snorts out a laugh.  “My wife, the romantic.”

“I’m here to sweep you off your feet.”

They crash before eleven, but at least the paperwork’s done.

“Oh crap,” Elena mutters at her computer screen the following day.  Nate spins around fast enough in his seat that he feels slightly dizzy.

“Did we lose the site?”

“No – I completely forgot about Clara’s Halloween party.  I mean, we don’t have to go –”

“We need a night off.  We just need to think of something that matches and is easy for both of us,” Nate starts, but Elena’s got a look on her face.

“I actually already came up with something,” she confesses.

Nate chuckles, “You gonna keep me in suspense?  Who am I gonna be?”

“It’s not a couples’ costume.  I thought of it for myself maybe a year ago.”

Nate tries not to look too deflated.  Sure, it had been fun dressing up as Orlando Bloom, but the fun had been playing along with Elena.

“So I’m left high and dry,” he says with false bravado.

“I believe in your capability to think creatively,” Elena says dryly.  It makes him laugh at least.

He’s staring out the window as they drive home that evening when a light-up plastic vampire flapping in the wind catches his eye.  He hisses quietly as the lightbulb goes off in his head.

“Something up?” Elena doesn’t take her eyes off the road.

“Nope, nothing at all,” he says completely unconvincingly.  Elena rolls her eyes as he pulls his phone from his pocket.

**[Me 7:59 PM]** Do you have anything resembling stakes? Like vampire killing stakes?

Sully calls back just as they pull into the driveway.

“What are you goddamn talking about, kid?”

Elena gives Nate a quizzical look, he mouths ‘go’.  She moves towards the house, but is clearly trying to listen into the conversation.

“Like for a costume,” Nate mutters as loudly as he’ll allow himself.  Then louder, “And I don’t want my nosy wife to know.”

Elena chuckles and takes the hint.  Sully sighs on the other end.

Sully doesn’t have stakes, but between the two of them, Nate thinks he’s cobbled together a decent amount of antique oddities to make a halfway decent Van Helsing.  The garden stakes will go to their intended purpose come spring.

He has no idea what Elena’s planning but it’s kind of fun keeping it a surprise.

They’re both in and out of different meetings the day of the party.  Nate’s just finished his last of the day when he gets a text from Elena.

**[WIIIFE 5:09 PM]** Running late – meet you at Clara’s?

**[WIIIFE 5:09 PM]** SORRYYYYYY

He feels like a bit of an idiot lingering by the chips and dip, especially because flying solo, Van Helsing looks like something everyone keeps calling ‘steampunk.’

There’s a fedora in the crowd and Nate sighs.  One of Clara’s friends must have remembered Elena and him from last year and done Indiana Jones as a joke.

Except when the crowd thins a bit, it’s _Elena_ , and she looks incredible.  Not that she doesn’t always, but wow.

She smirks when she catches sight of him.  “Close your mouth unless you want to catch flies.”

Nate swallows hard.

She takes in his costume, “And you are…”

“Van Helsing,” he croaks.

“Ah, so we’re both doctors,” Elena jokes.

“Don’t start,” Nate chuckles, finally pulling himself together.  Glancing at what stands for the bullwhip, “Is that my –”

“I made sure I could reattach the hook, don’t worry,” she pats his chest.  “Come on, we should be a little social.”

Nate hasn’t really prayed in years – excepting Nepal, but he glances skyward when Elena suggests they leave early.  He’s antsy driving his car home alone and definitely runs a light beating her by seconds.

“You even gonna make it upstairs, cowboy?” she asks in a low voice.

“Let’s find out.”  He picks her up, she yelps, and his legs are only starting to hurt by the time they’re in the bedroom.  Neither of them wastes time yanking off their clothes.

“Time to go digging in the wrong place?” Nate waggles his eyebrows as Elena straddles him.

“Do not kill my mood, Nathan Drake,” Elena warns, but grabs the discarded fedora, replacing it on her head.  He tries to reach for it, but is already trapped in his compromising position.

When she finally slides off him, the hat falls off.  Nate is way too spent to move.  Elena dutifully pulls her knees up to her chin.

“Yeah, don’t want that to have been for nothing,” he jokes, breathless.

“You’re lucky I don’t have free hands at the moment.”

“No, just lucky.”

Elena bites her lower lip, quiet.  Nate reaches for his sketchbook on the bedside table when she finally uncurls herself.

“Thanks for waiting for the better angles,” she jokes dryly, reaching for the hat and dropping it on his head.

\----------

A bright thin light in the dark wakes Nate in the early hours of the morning.  The clock on the nightstand blinks an angry, red 4:15.  The alarm isn’t set for hours.

He gets up and stumbles for the bathroom, blinking his way to consciousness.  Elena hugs the toilet like it’s her long-lost best friend.

“I feel like complete and utter garbage,” she moans.  “I can’t get on a plane like this; I don’t care what my parents say.”

Wordlessly, Nate walks over and sits with his back up against the side of the tub, aimlessly rubbing her back.  He stops mid-stroke.

“Where are the tests?”

“Tests? Oh shit – check one of the boxes back in the room?”

Nate doesn’t want to leave her alone, or move himself for that matter, but forces himself up all the same.  Rummaging around cardboard boxes in the dark is nothing; he’s stuck his arms in actually scary things at the risk of losing a hand.

He finds the open box soon enough.  Adjusting his eyes to the light again is worse the second time around, but at least the spot where he sat still has a bit of warmth left.  Instinctively, he laces his fingers in hers.

Nate’s come to appreciate how long the ten minute wait is.  He also isn’t getting his heart set on anything; a negative’s more likely than a positive.  It just as well could have been the weird sandwich Elena insisted on ordering for lunch.

“It’s not it,” Elena says calmly.  “I haven’t even gotten the alert for the month yet –”

“And we’re trusting the app,” Nate says dully, more due to exhaustion than anything else.  “Elena?”

Elena’s frozen in place, staring with her mouth agape.  “Give me another one.”

Nate fumbles a second pregnancy test out, taking the old in hand.  Positive.

The second ten minutes takes even longer.  Neither of them can talk until Nate has to break the tension.  “So how about them… I’ve got nothing.”

Elena lets out a small, tense laugh.  “You’ll be a real hit at Thanksgiving.”

She smiles, eyes welling up.  Positive.  Nate wonders for a split second if third time will be a charm, before they pin all their hopes on something they bought at a drug store.  The thought disappears as soon as it appeared.

“We’re gonna be parents,” he says, voice cracking.  Elena nods, tears freely spilling now.

Nate picks her up to kiss her and pulls her into a hug, both of them staining tears on the other’s t-shirt, unwilling to let go of the embrace.

“How’re you feeling?” Nate finally manages.

“Terrible,” Elena laughs, muffled into him.  “But I need to sleep or today’s gonna suck.”

They make their way back into bed, but there’s no way Nate’s falling back asleep.  Even in the dark he can tell Elena isn’t either.

“Hey,” her voice lingers in the darkness.  “Let’s maybe not mention anything to my parents.  I want this to be ours a little longer.”

He’s fine with that.

Never usually airsick, Elena is bordering on a lovely shade of green on the airplane.

“Can we maybe have a few extra bags?” Nate flags down the steward.

“Thanks,” Elena moans.

Thanksgiving is an onslaught of questions about the new house and the next season, in that order.  Babies never come up.

Nate can’t remember if Elena told her parents they were trying, but then that’s tantamount to admitting to your parents you’re having sex.  Nate’s told Sully he’s had sex, but then again – Sully.

“I’ve got the biggest food baby,” Elena’s cousin groans, leaning back in his seat.

Elena’s hand reaches for Nate’s under the table, placing it on her still flat stomach.

“You working on one there yourself?” he murmurs, grinning.

“Shut up,” Elena chuckles.  No one notices.

The doctor expresses surprise as well as congratulations at their quick work.

“You’re only about five weeks along, so proceed very carefully until your next appointment.”

Elena pauses for a moment when they’re back in the car, keys hovering over the ignition.

“What’s up?”

“Five weeks puts us at – well, who would have guessed Dr. Jones had you firing on all cylinders?”

Nate groans.  “I’m never going to live that down, huh?”

“Nope,” Elena says brightly.  “And we’re calling Sully first.  My parents will ask why we didn’t tell them in person and I need a good excuse.”

Elena puts her phone on speaker and each ring Nate seems to cycle between nerves and contentment.

“Darlin’, do you know what time it is where I am?” Sully’s voice grumbles on the other end.

“Not a clue,” Nate laughs.

“Nate?  Something up?”

Nate looks to Elena, smiling broadly.  He takes a steadying breath that does nothing for the shake in his voice.  “We’re having a baby.”

**Author's Note:**

> Movies Nate finds acceptable: _Romancing the Stone_ , _The Mummy_.


End file.
